In many instant lottery systems, especially those in the United States that are administered by state governments, winning tickets are presented by players to lottery agents for redemption. In many cases, in particular where the ticket has a high value, the lottery agent will enter ticket identification or validation data from the ticket into a lottery terminal using a bar code reader or manually inputting this data. This information is then transmitted to a host computer at the state lottery administration where this information is used to access a validation file. Typically, there is one record in the validation file for each such winning ticket that contains the redemption value of the ticket. The host computer validates that the ticket is indeed a winning ticket and relays this information to the lottery terminal. The lottery agent either pays the winning amount or refers the player to a regional lottery office.
However, it has been discovered that in some situations it is possible to make unauthorized alterations to or add validation records to the validation file in the host computer. Then for example, someone with access to the validation file can add a record containing a redemption value or a prize code to the validation file for what should be a losing lottery ticket, alter the face of the ticket to reflect this winning value and then present the lottery ticket to the lottery agent for redemption. In this manner, what would otherwise be a losing lottery ticket can be fraudulently redeemed for value. Also, the prize codes in one or more existing validation records could be altered to increase the redemption value of a ticket or turn a losing ticket in to a winning ticket.